Why does smoking affect bone loss?
Marisa Weiss, M.D., president and founder: Smoking can affect many ways in which the body functions. Smoking brings no benefit to any organ system. It can affect all the small blood vessels that go into each organ including the bones. Significant smoking has a definite and significant bad effect on bone health. If you are smoking still, try to work closely with your doctor on a smoking cessation program. This could be one of the healthiest changes you can make in your life. Doing it on your own is so difficult. Take advantage of support groups. There are nicotine patches or gum that can help. Some people benefit from medications like Wellbutrin. We cannot overestimate how important this is. Editor’s Note: Wellbutrin (chemical name: bupropion) is known to reduce the effectiveness of tamoxifen. If you are taking tamoxifen, talk to your doctor about alternatives to Wellbutrin. For more information, please visit the Breastcancer.org Tamoxifen page.
